On some level, I was surprised to see Richard Ellis is a co-curator of the exhibition, while on another, I wasn’t. Richard has painted and illustrated various museums and books with some outstanding images of marine life, has a deep interest in the Kraken (giant squid), and has authored a book on Sea Monsters (which I have noted is rather more open-minded than Ellis’ heavily edited documentary television appearances makes him out to be).

The media has tended to use Ellis as the ultimate skeptic or debunker, but, indeed, he has written of the mystery of the “Great Sea Serpent” and how Steller’s Sea Cow (Hydrodamalis gigas) is the “skeleton in the closet” of cryptozoology. I look forward to seeing what the AMNH and Richard Ellis have done with cryptozoology in this exhibition.

Of course, the use of “mythic” versus “legendary” or “folkloric,” perhaps, already gives us some clues about how the general public might experience it.

I will be delivering a presentation, “Introduction to Cryptozoology,” in conjuntion with this exhibition, on December 1, 2007, at the AMNH.

See you there.

About Loren ColemanLoren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.

4 Responses to ““Mythic” Opens”

It’s a step in the right direction. Back when I was working at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, several co-workers and I tried very hard to get them to let us put together a cryptozoology exhibit. Despite our presentation consisting of illustrations and exhibit ideas, they opted for a show in tribute to Charlie Brown’s dog Snoopy.